Less than 100 days before the container weight rule takes effect, a fight is brewing over whether terminal operators in Brazil should charge for inputting verified gross mass declarations as part of the new SOLAS container weight rule. The disagreement pits terminal operators against container lines and even the Brazilian maritime regulatory agency. The uncertainty also expands to how the VGMs will be registered in EDI systems. In a rarity among the 162 signatory countries to the International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea convention, major Brazilian industry players previously voiced confidence in the country’s ability to meet the obligations of the rule. The fact that all containers in Brazil have been weighed upon arrival at the country’s various container terminals for several years did in fact give the South American country a head start. Now, much of that advantage has been whittled away as a VGM input charge would reduce the competitiveness of agriculture exporters. Brazilian container terminals say they will pass on a bill of between 40 reais ($11.33) and 60 reais for each container to the container lines for VGM input. That extra cost would likely be passed on to shippers.